The innate immune system including microglia has a major contribution to maintenance of the physiological functions of the hippocampus by permanent monitoring of the neural milieu and elimination of tissue-damaging threats. The hippocampus is vulnerable to age-related changes ranging from gene expression to network connectivity. The risk of hippocampal deterioration increases with the decline o...

BACKGROUND Reports suggest a relationship between circulating sex hormone levels and breast cancer risk, but genetic association studies have been inconclusive. We investigated the association between levels of sex hormones and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes coding for the enzymes that regulate them. METHODS We assayed circulating levels of estradiol, testosterone, estrone, a...

A sex steroid hormone sensitive brainstem-allocortex axis of neuronal cell groups and projections is recognized with convergent pathways of aminergic-peptidergic messenger systems, which subserves the adjustment for varying reproductive and environmental conditions and the coordination of endocrine-autonomic functions. Main stations in the A-B-C (Allocortex-Brainstem-Core) periventricular axis ...

BACKGROUND Aromatase inhibitors (AI) are increasingly used in early breast cancer and there is a growing interest in associated long-term side-effects of profound estrogen suppression. Urogenital side-effects due to atrophic vaginitis are often managed with vaginal estrogen preparations. These are generally perceived to result in minimal systemic absorption of estrogen. We followed serum estrad...

Human mammary gland explants obtained (as far from the lesion as possible) from female patients who had undergone surgical biopsy for fibroadenoma of the breast were organ cultured in a chemically defined medium, and their hormone requirement for growth and differentiation was studied. Most of the expiants that were cultured in hormone-free medium survived, while the addition of insulin gave fu...

The basic component of Silastic® glue (Dow Corning) used to prepare Silastic® pellets is polydimethylsiloxane. This compound is also present in other commercial adhesives such as FASTIX® (Akapol SA) that are available in any store for that category. In the present study we developed low cost, easy to prepare handmade steroid pellets (HMSP) by mixing 17β-estradiol, progesterone or other syntheti...

Cardiovascular disease is currently the leading cause of death among women in the United States. To investigate the effect of postmenopausal hormone therapy on atherogenesis, we studied 75 cholesterol-fed female rabbits for 19 wk. The rabbits were randomly assigned to five groups. Four groups underwent bilateral ovariectomy followed by treatment with either 17 beta-estradiol, 17 beta-estradiol ...

OBJECTIVES: Polycystic ovary syndrome is a heterogeneous endocrine disorder that affects reproductive-age women. The mechanisms underlying the endocrine heterogeneity and neuroendocrinology of polycystic ovary syndrome are still unclear. In this study, we investigated the expression of the kisspeptin system and gonadotropin-releasing hormone pulse regulators in the hypothalamus as well as facto...

The influence of estrous cycle and intrastriatal implants of 17 beta-estradiol (17 beta-estradiol). 17 alpha-estradiol (17 alpha-estradiol) or cholesterol on the number of footfaults made by female rats traversing a narrow suspended beam was investigated. Female rats made fewer footfaults on estrus than on other days of the cycle. This was true when testing occurred during either the light or d...

BACKGROUND Prolactin is a peptide hormone necessary for normal breast development that may contribute to breast tumorigenesis. Estrogen is a significant positive regulator of prolactin synthesis; therefore, raloxifene, a selective estrogen receptor modulator under study as a breast cancer prevention agent, may modulate both estradiol and prolactin levels by inhibiting estradiol from binding to ...